Wild's youngsters keep stepping up with key players out

Minnesota Wild right wing Dany Heatley, second from left, celebrates with Jason Zucker (16), Charlie Coyle (3), Clayton Stoner (4) and Ryan Suter (20) after Heatley scored against the Predators in the first period Sunday in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Sunday night, as the Wild won their fifth of six games, this one in dominating fashion, star players Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise, Jared Spurgeon and Josh Harding watched from Minnesota.

Without the quartet of key players, the Wild have played their best hockey in more than a month.

That's what has been so special about the Wild's sudden winning ways. They've done it with contributions from a number of players who played smaller roles before injuries depleted the team.

A lot has to go right for the shorthanded Wild to win hockey games. Even more has to go right for the Wild to shut out the Nashville Predators 4-0 as they did Sunday in one of their most impressive efforts of the season.

"We have to do a lot of things right and a lot of things very well to win hockey games," coach Mike Yeo said. "Our players recognize that and they're bringing that urgency every game."

The urgency starts in net where the Wild appeared to be in dire straights just two weeks ago.

Harding is out indefinitely as he deals with adjustments to medication for multiple sclerosis.

Without him, the Wild were left with Niklas Backstrom, who entered the second half of the season on pace to have career-low numbers. And they called up Darcy Kuemper, who had allowed six goals on 16 shots in two previous NHL games this season.

But at a time when the Wild's season could have spiraled out of control, Backstrom and Kuemper have stepped up their games.

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Kuemper, 23, put his early struggles behind him and recorded his first career shutout Sunday night. The strong effort came on the heels of a 39-save effort in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

"To get one (shutout) at the highest level is a pretty cool experience," Kuemper said. "But if you watched how the guys played in front of me -- I let a few rebounds go and made it a little tough on them, but they did a great job in front of me and made my job easy."

On the blue line, Ryan Suter is playing as well as he has all season. And Nate Prosser and Jonathon Blum, who seldom played before this stretch, have been great, too.

Defenseman Marco Scandella added a goal Sunday and has two points in his past three games.

Up front, Yeo lauded Jason Pominville as the leader of the forwards without Koivu and Parise.

But it has been the line of Dany Heatley and 21-year-olds Charlie Coyle and Jason Zucker that has provided tangible results.

Coyle scored twice in a loss Saturday, and Heatley and Zucker each scored Sunday night to start the Wild in the right direction midway through the first period.

"This is what we need," Yeo said. "When guys go down, you can do two things: You can feel sorry for yourself or other guys can step up. And (the latter) has happened for us."

The Wild's four-goal margin of victory was their biggest since Nov. 5, a 5-1 win over Calgary.

After Sunday's shutout, Wild players pointed out there is always more they can do to improve.

But coming off a loss Saturday night, the Wild responded in a big way -- the way they have to without key players.

"That was an unbelievable response by our guys," Yeo said. "I just want to keep it going. That's our challenge. Every game we've got a lot of things we have to do right to get the right outcome right now."